SMIL Converter

Extract text from SMIL files

Select File
Drop or upload your .SMIL file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your SMIL file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your SMIL file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert SMIL to another file type

To convert your SMIL file to another format, you need RealPlayer or other Web software.

Convert a file to SMIL

To convert other file formats to the "Multimedia Markup Language" file type, you need software like RealPlayer or a similar tool.

About SMIL files

A .smil (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) file is not a video file; it is an XML-based instruction set that tells a media player how to play other files. Think of it as a conductor's sheet music rather than the instruments themselves. It dictates when to play a video, display a caption, or trigger an audio track.

The Problem: "Missing Media" & Legacy Players

Because the .smil file only contains text coordinates and timestamps (often just a few kilobytes), it requires the actual media assets (like RM, MP4, or JPG files) to be present in the same folder or accessible via a valid URL. If you only have the .smil file, you cannot "play" it. Furthermore, modern browsers (Chrome, Edge) have dropped native support for SMIL, and legacy players like RealPlayer are required to execute the presentation properly.

The Solution: Extraction & Archiving

For Video Playback: If you have the referenced media assets, the best method to "convert" a SMIL presentation to a single video file (like MP4) is often to play it in a compatible player and use screen recording software, as direct conversion tools are rare for complex interactive layouts.
For DAISY Books: Users with visual impairments often use SMIL for DAISY Digital Talking Books. These can be converted to standard MP3 audiobooks or TXT files using accessibility tools.
For Asset Recovery: You can open any .smil file in a text editor (like Notepad++) to read the code and locate the direct URLs to the actual video or audio files you want to download.

Convert.Guru analyzes your SMIL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted ZIP, SMI, SMRL, PDF, TXT, SML, JPG, NCX, MIL, JPEG, HTML, PNG and SVG files.

FAQ

If you want to convert SMIL file to MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WEBM, MKV, M4V, 3GP, OGV, ASF or RM, you can use RealPlayer or similar software from the "Multimedia Presentation Layout" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MTS, MOV, RMVB, DIVX, RM, H264, TS, WMV, VOB, MP4, XVID or AVI files to SMIL, try RealPlayer or another comparable tool in the "Multimedia Presentation Layout" category.

The SMIL Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our SMIL converter.